On a positive first quarter start:
"It might of relaxed them a bit today. It was a whole ot different today then one week ago. We got back top playing the way we did the previous four weeks. I think it took a lot out of our guys coming down to so many games deceided on the final play, but that is no excuse for our performance last week. The last thing I said to them was we are at a fork in the road. We can either go to a bowl game, or go the other direction. They all stood up and said they are going to a bowl game."

On the running game:
"We had to run the ball to be a better football team. Anytime you can control the time of possession by running the ball, that is a good recipe to win the game."

On Andrew Wallace starting at RG:
"He went down on the last day of practice on Wednesday, a couple of guys fell on him. The trainers and he did a good job in being able to get back. He warmed up well, and was able to go."

"We felt really good at halftime, especially going in as poorly as we thought we played in the first half but only down 17-6. I thought we had a fired up team coming out for the second half, but that kick return took the wind out of our sails."

"We certainly had some issues up front both running and throwing the football. Our receivers had some opportunities to make plays and didn't make them. Tanner didn't play really well tonight. It's not fair, but Tanner can't play average. If he plays average, we can't win."

"We hadn't seen man coverage consistently this year, and we struggled to get off of [NC State]'s coverage, and protect long enough for Tanner to get a chance to find someone downfield."

On KR TD Penalty
"I didn't understand it. Apparently there was a sideline violation, interference from the sideline. It happened between the score and the extra point, so when that happens there's no mark off. That's my understanding, now, if I could explain it to you I would. I didn't understand the explanation, so I'm not sure."

"Anytime you give up a kickoff return touchdown that's bad, and our coverage had been good this year. We had a shanked punt, a bad snap on an extra point, those things kill a team's momentum. I'm really disappointed in our special teams tonight. On the other hand, I was impressed with NC State, they were really playing well on special teams."